Playing Saints Row and The Witcher on Facebook Works Surprisingly Well

Gaikai has come to Facebook, where it works every bit as well as you could hope.

Although OnLive is probably brought up the most when talking about cloud gaming, Gaikai is no less impressive. We've seen it bring streaming games to websites like Walmart.com before, but with the service being brought to Facebook this week, it's opening itself up to a huge user base that has -- as Zynga's success demonstrates -- shown an interest in playing games. No doubt part of the success of Facebook games has been due to their ease of access; you click on a link and you're playing right in your browser. That simplicity is one reason OnLive may have difficulty in garnering users through Facebook; for Gaikai, it's absolutely perfect.

The new Facebook app works just as it should. You're presented with a list of games you can sample: Pick one, allow Java to run, and it'll load right up. It's a seamless experience, and aside from what can be somewhat of a lengthy initial load, there's really no fuss in playing. It's no different than playing a typical game on Facebook, right down to the ability to continue chatting with Facebook friends (though you'll need to scroll down so the game window isn't blocking your view).

The actual playing experience itself is very smooth, as has been the case with previous implementations of Gaikai. I was able to play Saints Row: The Third and Magicka effectively without detecting a significant amount of input lag; the one exception to this was when I had to move my targeting reticule a significant distance in Saints Row. Whenever I would have to spin around to shoot an enemy, I found myself consistently going too far with the cursor. That might be the sort of thing that occurs when your sensitivity is too high on a game controller; when playing with a mouse that shouldn't be happening. Eventually I was able to adjust for the most part, and it never became a serious problem. Then again, I never played any games where that sort of mistake would really cost me.

The games looked good, though even with my connection quality as high as it could be (according to a handy indicator in the bottom right corner of the screen), the effects of compressing the video for it to be sent to you -- remember, the game is running on Gaikai's servers and then streamed to your computer, which is what allows the system requirements to be so low -- are very much noticeable. You can tell it's not a matter of the game being run at low quality, just compression taking its toll.

Those gripes aside -- and from my experience they were not serious enough to make anything unplayable, though your miles may vary depending upon the speed of your Internet connection -- that these games can be run through a browser window continues to impress me. And for my laptop -- which, while modern, could not dream of running a game like Saints Row on it -- to be capable of streaming The Third over a wireless Internet connection is a testament to the technology Gaikai has built.

There are currently only a small handful of games available on Gaikai's Facebook app; luckily several are very good. In addition to the two mentioned above, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Orcs Must Die, The Witcher 2, Sniper: Ghost Warrior, and Farming Simulator 2011 are now available. Each game is playable as a demo lasting 45 minutes. After finishing, you're offered to be taken to a website where you can buy the full thing -- Gaikai doesn't sell the full games themselves, and is merely a way of trying them out before pointing you in the direction of GamesGate, GOG, THQ's online store, and so on, depending upon the game.

At least for PC gamers, Gaikai may not be a perfect replacement for traditional PC demos. One of the benefits to downloading a demo is seeing how the game runs on your computer, something that can't be accomplished here. If you're confident in your computer's ability to handle a game, though, or if you merely want to try out a game you'll play on consoles, this is a quick, easy way to sample a title without having to wait for a demo to download -- if one is even available.

Of the games available, Farming Simulator surely seems like the strangest fit alongside the likes of hardcore titles like Saints Row and The Witcher. However, remember what platform this is on, and how FarmVille remains one of the most popular games on all of Facebook. Of course, I don't expect this game to now catch on in any big way; FarmVille's success had a lot less to do with people's fascination with farms and more to do with the social way in which it was designed, and none of these Gaikai games are built to take advantage of that social element of Facebook. The Gaikai app shows what friends have been playing and nothing more. These are, after all, demos, so it's hard to expect more information on what your friends have been doing, but even if they were not, the games don't feature any Facebook connectivity. That's absolutely good news for those who long ago grew tired of receiving game notifications on Facebook. I just wonder how effectively Gaikai will spread if the majority of its social presence on Facebook comes through users manually deciding to share what they're playing with friends.

Of course, this release is described as being the version 1.0 beta launch, so there may be some way for Gaikai to increase its social presence on Facebook. Even if it does not, it will remain a delightfully capable, hassle-free way of sampling games.